It’s evident that the CEO is unfairly laying the blame on the Engineer, but there’s more to this story that will undoubtedly surface in the coming weeks. The inability to accurately determine the number of casualties due to the intense fire points to the need for a thorough review of the regulations governing the transportation of hazardous materials by rail, including oil. It’s mind-boggling that the amount of oil transported by rail has skyrocketed by a whopping 2700% in the past ten years due to pipeline saturation.
Looks like someone is trying to drown Toronto with even a larger amount of water than a few weeks back causing the city to be crippled by more flooding. In Ottawa heavy rain usually means the sewer system overloads and starts dumping directly into the Ottawa River (many special surprises for those down river from Ottawa). Rumor has it that a chap called Noah might be running as next Mayor of Toronto, but that is unconfirmed.
Evidently the Lu Lu Lemon folks think that their “see through” yoga pants were actually folks that were wearing clothing that was too small for them. Are they saying that folks wear clothing smaller sizes than they should, to help their ego? I have been a size 32 my entire life (of course my trousers are now down below my knees ( and that is your hideous mental image for the weekend).
My Weekly Recap
The dog days of summer are here, but fear not I will be bringing you quality articles all summer long (yes, I don’t believe that any more than you do):
My Writings for Week Ending July 12th
Did Toronto Call in the Navy for all this Rain?
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Carnival of Personal Finance #421 : Free Agent Mania Edition!As usual a few folks were not happy with my sarcastic commentary, can’t understand why? Oh yes because I am a sarcastic “Poo-head”, now I get it. |
Employment Unchanged for June in CanadaNeither bad nor good news in terms of jobs in Canada, but over all things look a bit better. |
Hospital Parking RantMaybe we need to have medical parking insurance that will pay for the money we have to spend going to the hospital? |
What is Money?Money and valuing it is not easy, and I have tried to train my kids to understand how much they are paying for some things. |
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Links for the Week
Almost All-Star break for Baseball, just another 4 more months left in the season:
Top Stories of the Week of July 12th
The CFL is in Full Swing Too, Luckily they are supposed to play games in the snow
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Retailer Strategy of Charging Less than AdvertisedMichael James asks how much really for those shorts, but since he was at the Bay, the price was not obvious. |
Lifetime coffee spendData Genetics brings us a handy on line calculator to figure out just how much your vices are costing you and have cost you throughout your lifetime. |
Would you want free tuition, in exchange for a percentage of income?Krystal Yee comments on a very interesting idea about a different financing model for Post-secondary education, might be an idea that needs closer scrutiny. |
Finally, A Urinal You Can Wash Your Hands InYes little things please little minds, but Popular Science really does have the coolest gadget section, if a bit crude. |
Sleepy Portfolio 2Q-2013 UpdateThe Canadian Capitalist returns to give us an update on a good sample portfolio for long term index investing. |
Did you notice that Google Reader is now dead? I am now using Feedly to read RSS feeds, is anyone found anything better or different? |
MIT Shows Your Friends Graph with GmailA very interesting tool from MIT that will graph your sphere of influence from your Gmail Account. I tried it, but if you are worried about your on line privacy, remember you are giving it access to your GMAIL account too. |
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Smart takes on rising interest rates from smart peopleMark from My Own Advisor goes with the experts takes on the upcoming interest rate increases (that I have been promising for 3 years now!). |
FX HORIZONS: Move Over Economists; Time to Give Physicists a TurnUsing Physics in monetary matters? The Wall Street Journal suggests that maybe this is a better idea than leaving it to economists. |
HOW WOULD MIKE HOLMES FIX THE FINANCIAL SECTOR?Riscario asks that very question, and has a couple of solid points (that if they aren’t fixed, “… someone might die…” (OK he didn’t say that, but that is one of Mike’s catch phrases). |
Five money-saving tips for those epic summer road tripsPreet is back in the Globe to help us have cheaper road trips, although he doesn’t mention the need for sedation if you bring your kids. |
Videos that Go Boom
Unfortunately I didn’t find this video for Exploding Christmas last week, so here a little late is a cool thing that went KAPOW!
Best of 2013
Some of the best of posts from 2013
- CPP Reform, Snow, Christmas, Boxing day and #FreeFormFriday Did the CPP reform of 2013 fix much? Kind of, but Christmas was coming too.
- No Verizon, Microsoft Phones, NFL Kick Off and Friday #ShoutOuts Verizon won’t enter the Canadian wireless market, meaning Mobilicity may disappear and consumers will pay ridiculous monthly charges. Learn why with this blog post!
- Mandela gone, Canada “Post”, Gail on the Shelf and #FreeFormFriday Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013, after a long illness.
- Christmas is Coming, Christmas Lay Offs, Electric Fees, Commie Pope and #FreeFormFriday Celebrate Christmas with more online shopping – BMO and many other companies announce layoffs during the Holiday season.
- Giveaways, Vacations, No Sun and Friday #ShoutOuts Win a software worth almost $100 and go on the vacation of your dreams! Enter my intelligence test and get the chance to take the trip of a lifetime. #vacation
- Stock Frauds, Senate Expenses, Twitter wrong and Friday #ShoutOuts Canadians beware of stock fraud? U.S. Justice department investigates alleged penny stock swindler. Senator Pam Wallen scrutinized for spending. Find out more about the scam!
- Black November, Bitcoins, Tablets, Unloseable Lottery and #FreeFormFriday So Black Friday is upon us, however, it seems to be losing a lot of it’s “thunder” thanks to the “sales” starting earlier.
- Mad Dog, English Men, I’m OK and #Shoutouts Maurice Mad Dog Vachon was a tough son of a gun, but did he have a financial impact too? Read on to find out.
- Toronto Circus, Prince Charles Retires, More Word Puzzles and Friday #ShoutOuts This whole Toronto thing really is just a reality TV show gone off the rails, isn’t it? The three-ring circus that is unfolding in the media
- Identifiable, the Iron Sheik, Remembrance Day, More Word Puzzles and Friday #ShoutOuts So my concerns that if I put my natural face on my Social Media accounts were just paranoia.
- Incestuous Bloggers, Word Puzzles, RDSP Menu, All Saints Day and Friday #ShoutOuts Sometimes blogs become a little closed in and don’t recognize new folks and we become incestuous bloggers.
- Senate Fun, Apocalypse Averted, Asteroids and Friday #ShoutOuts News Canadians can’t ignore: investigate the scandal and discover if the Harper Government’s demise is near!
- Kicking the Can, Throne Speech, Windows 8.1 and Friday #ShoutOuts Seems our friends down south had so much fun with almost upending the world economy, they’d like to try to do it again in January.
- Government #Defaults, Fake Reviews, Turkey Time, Fall Colours and Friday #ShoutOuts Given that for some odd reason shutting the government down wasn’t enough our friends down south are now attempting to disrupt or possibly completely f*ck the world economy by defaulting in a few days.
- Government Shutdowns, Hockey Returns, New iPhone and Friday #ShoutOuts Explore the debate surrounding the US government’s shutdown with insight into potential resolutions outside of the standard back pay for civil servants.
- Financial Bloggers, 35 Million Strong, Odd CRA Cheques and Friday #ShoutOuts I had a very good time at CPFC13 where I got to moderate a panel of Investing Smart folks, and I learned a great deal from a few outstanding presenters,
- A Better Friday and #CPFC13 Not a regular Friday after this week and my preparations for the coming weekend, I didn’t really get enough time to put together my regular Friday Random Thoughts, but here is a shortened version.
- Friday the 13th, Private Royal Mail, Canadian 1% and Friday #ShoutOuts Watch out for bad things on Fridays – it’s Friday the 13th! Don’t subscribe to the concept? Tuesday is the most evil day. September 11th was a Tuesday! Don’t forget about ladders and black cats either. UK privatizing the Royal Mail? A price tag of £3B pounds!
- King Louis, Braun Follies, Lice and Friday #ShoutOuts Greetings and Happy Birthday to Prince George Louis Alexander Windsor (and future King of Canada), welcome to the media “sh*te storm” that will be your life.
- Loose Money, Faster Sites, the Heat is On and Friday #ShoutOuts The new Bank of Canada Governor announced on Wednesday no change in the interest rates for now, with the overnight rate continuing at 1%.
- Floods, Explosions, See Thru Lu Lu’s and Friday #ShoutOuts Looks like the Engineer is now being “thrown under the train” as it were (i.e. the finger of blame is being pointed at him by his CEO).
- Egypt, July 4th, Sweltering Summer, Alfie and Friday #ShoutOuts Interesting how the Egyptian military throwing out an allegedly democratically elected President is being hailed as a great democratic change.
- Canada Day, 4th of July, Flooding and Some Random Thoughts A hard week in 2013 for my family with the passing of my Mother-in-law to Cancer. One day that disease will be done.
- Fathers, Corruption, Horton’s Hedgings and Friday #ShoutOuts Hopefully everyone enjoyed Father’s Day, I know I did, very nice day, lovely meal and some peace and quiet.
- Stanley Cup, Turbans, Car Tracking and Friday #ShoutOuts The Stanley Cup finals have started, and hopefully all the games aren’t going to go that late into the night, or I will need to start working the night shift at work.
- Baseball “Cheats”, D-Day, Fun with Fiji and Friday #ShoutOuts It seems baseball is embroiled with yet another “performance enhancing drugs” scandal with a few very well-known names being implicated by yet another “wellness clinic”. Are the accusations true?
- Obliterating Rock, Floods, Senators and Friday #ShoutOuts If you are reading this after 4:35 PM May 31, 2013 I guess we survived another close fly by of a “Civilization Killer” lump of Rock.
- Senators, Twisters, Water and Friday #ShoutOuts To say the entire Senators Expenses Event is more ridiculous than a Christmas Panto (usually an excuse for men to dress up as women
- Mothers, Hab Nots, Trains, and Friday #ShoutOuts What does a Walrus, Model Trains and Mother’s Day have to do with each other? Not that much but more financial stories too.
- Taxes Done, Drones, Playoffs and Friday #ShoutOuts Hope your taxes were in on Tuesday, because if not, you might be in trouble (especially if you are part of the $29 Billion dollars still owed to the government in Taxes).
- Disk Crashes, Daffodils, Password Trappers and Friday #ShoutOuts High Tech always proves that it is much like Mother Nature, in that, you should never ignore it or take it for granted, because things can change very quickly at the most inopportune times.
- Loose Money, Trudeau-mania II, Nut Bags and Friday #ShoutOuts If you missed it on Wednesday the Bank of Canada continued to keep their key overnight rate at 1%.
- Snowmaegedon, the Masters, Windows and Friday #ShoutOuts Today, we are experiencing a late version of winter, with a nasty snow/ice/rain storm that proves that just when you think it is Spring, you might be mistaken.
- Final Four, Dark Matter, Tax Time and Friday #ShoutOuts The NCAA Men’s basketball Final Four is this weekend, and my bracket is completely shot.
- Budgets, Dark Side of the Moon, Eight Years Later, Palm Sunday and Friday #ShoutOuts Minister Flaherty gave us a very vague budget (2013) yesterday. For Hockey Moms, reasons to rejoice, given tarifs on Hockey equipment, Golf Clubs, Baby Clothes and a few other things are now gone.
- Pope Picked, Pi Day, St. Patty’s Day and Phriday #ShoutOuts Seems our Catholic brethren have chosen a new Pope (Francis) this week, thus ending one of the greatest talent hunts of the year.
- Thanks Stompin Tom, Loose Money Continues, Tax Time, Pope Picking and Friday #Shoutouts Stompin’ Tom Connors a true Canadian treasure has left us, and I for one am sad to hear it.
- St David’s Day, Snow, RRSP Season Over, Tax Time and Friday #Shoutouts Happy Saint David’s Day to all my Welsh brethren today.
- RRSP Time, Winners, Tax Time, Short Weeks and Friday #Shoutouts Yes, it’s that magical time when your Savings Institution pressures you to top up your RRSP account so you can take full advantage of the savings on your taxes.
- Lent , Pope Out, the Senate, RRSP Time and Friday #Shoutouts Lent is finally upon us, have you started making your plans? No? Me neither, I just haven’t had a heck of a lot of time to think about this kind of stuff.
- Lent , Pancake Tuesday, and Love Day Soon and Friday #Shoutouts For those of you unaware, Lent begins next Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) February 13th, so here is yet another chance to restart (or start) your financial plans for the coming year.
- Groundhog Day, Farewell Penny, No Vine and Friday #Shoutouts Tomorrow is Groundhog Day, so then we shall see how well a ground hog can prognosticate the weather (about as well as I can prognosticate financial stuff is my guess).
- Loose Money Continues, Polar Temps, More Info Lost and Friday #Shoutouts Wednesday our friends from the Bank of Canada kept their loose money policies in place.
- Hockey, Armstrong, Idle Folk, Lost Loans and Friday #ShoutOuts What happened the week of January 18th in 2013? Some NHL stuff, but a lot of interesting financial stuff too!
- Drop the Puck, Death Pills, Strikes and Friday #Shoutouts For those die hard NHL fans (like me) there will be hockey soon.
- Bye and Thanks for all the Fish, CBC Questions, Holiday Hours and Friday #Shoutouts Well it has been fun, but I guess it all had to end some time, it’s been a good run.
Thanks for the mention BCM. Stay cool.
Mark
It’s amazing how CEOs are completely responsible for all company successes, but can’t find their asses with both hands when something goes wrong. Thanks for the mention.